Cheap flights: we find you the rock-bottom fares

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As the clocks go back tomorrow, the true gloom of winter – darkening afternoons, chill evenings and November fog – is about to hit us. The best antidote? Travel. The sun-soaked sands of the Canaries or the Caribbean are an obvious escape if you want another burst of summer. Or, if you are master of your own time, you might want to head further afield to the southern hemisphere – Australia, South Africa and Latin America are all in the throes of late spring.

But even a short weekend away can be enough to reinject some optimism and positivity back into your life. In fact, many cities come into their own in winter, and when you are on holiday, suddenly it doesn’t seem such a bad time of year after all. The tourist hordes have gone and you can enjoy museums and galleries untroubled by queues and crowds. Restaurants and cafés feel like real places rather than tourist traps, and while you probably won’t want to sit outside on the terrace with a beer, you can keep cosy with a hot chocolate inside instead.

Many cities turn up a few winter surprises, too. Would you expect restaurants in Rome, for example, to have open fires blazing away in the evenings? Some do.

The run-up to Christmas is also a special time. Not everywhere has the glittering markets you find in Vienna or Cologne, but cities from Amsterdam to Madrid, Paris to New York dress up for Christmas and hum with shoppers and festive activity.

The good news is that at this time of year there are excellent bargains to be had. Hotel rates are at their most competitive in the weeks running up to Christmas, and it is also the best time to pick up a cheap flight. Most airfares dip to their lowest point of the year in November and early December, and astute research can turn up some excellent deals.

You probably won’t be able to quite match the £99 one-way fares just launched by WOW air to Boston and Washington which begin next spring. But early winter has always been a great time to find special offers and rock-bottom fares to most destinations, including trans-Atlantic flights. If you pick your dates carefully, you can get a return from London to JFK with British Airways for £399, travelling out in late November, and back in early December.

And I’m prepared to bet that in the next two or three weeks, some more tempting deals will be launched to try to lure late bookers. Fares to European destinations have dropped as low as £45 return to Madrid.

So how do you make sure you are finding the best fares?

For long-haul destinations – including New York – specialist agents such as Trailfinders (trailfinders.com) and Dialaflight (dialaflight.com) are usually the best places to start.

Firstly, they are often given special allocations of cheap fares which can’t be booked directly with the airline. Secondly, their systems can compare fares with all the airlines serving a route much more efficiently and quickly than you can. It is usually worth talking to one of the consultants about what you are planning, because they may have suggestions that you haven’t thought of – such as booking a round-the-world ticket, rather than a simple return fare to Australia.

Sometimes, too, booking your hotel at the same time as the plane ticket can make you savings, because the agent can legitimately get round ticketing rules and lower prices. These are called IT (inclusive tour) fares and work particularly well for trips to the Far East. For beach holidays, you should also try tour operators to see if they can offer a good deal on a package including a hotel. Kuoni (kuoni.co.uk) has probably the widest choice of destinations and resorts.

As for flights and holidays to Europe, your best bet is to get an overview through a fare-comparison site such as skyscanner.com. This allows you to search for the cheapest fares to any destination on selected days, or across a range of dates. Normally, midweek flights departing in the middle of the day offer the best value. So change your clocks – to a different time zone.

Paris £64: easyJet

Amsterdam £46: easyJet

Rome £71: Norwegian

Venice £42: Ryanair

Madrid £45: Ryanair

Tenerife £64: easyJet

Marrakech £53: Ryanair

Dubai £331: Turkish Airlines

New York £399: British Airways

Cape Town £590: Turkish Airlines

Maldives £597: Turkish Airlines

Bangkok £471: Gulf Air

Singapore £526: Qatar Airlines

Goa £521: Jet Airways

Sydney £707: Malaysia Airlines

(All flights are on a return basis, departing in November, from various London airports. Tax is included. Luggage is not included. Prices supplied by TrailFinders and Skyscanner. Research by Helena Kealey)

For expert guides and hotel recommendations in more than 120 popular destinations, visit telegraph.co.uk/travel